


if i fall in love

by captain_morrigan



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-06 11:20:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16386860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captain_morrigan/pseuds/captain_morrigan
Summary: Kara and Lena are university students who find themselves locked in a casual, flirtatious friendship – neither willing to make the first move into something more despite both of them not-so-secretly wanting to.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> No beta, all mistakes are mine, please ignore my rampant overuse of commas.
> 
> This is the first fic I’ve written in several years and probably the third or fourth overall. Chapter 2 will be up soon. I have no idea how long this will end up being; it will probably depend on feedback and whether or not people actually like it. And full disclosure, I’ve only watched like half of season one so my characterization will be all over the place, sorry.
> 
> Also Lena is a bottom in the bedroom and a top everywhere else. This is the hill I will die on.

The fall semester had just begun and Kara was finding herself forced to navigate a new section of the campus. She was late to class twice that first week and was embarrassed about it, so when week two rolled around she made a point to leave the apartment extra early. The flaw in her plan was that she then started arriving _too_ early to class. Luckily this proved to be a short-term problem. Not one to sit still for long with nothing to do, she had taken to doing a bit of light exploring during her extra ten or fifteen minutes before class started. On one such excursion she decided to wander into the business college as the building was right next to hers and she had never had a reason to investigate it before, though she found a very good reason as soon as she stepped in the door.

It seemed as though the business students of National City University were housing a deep, dark, and delicious secret in their building: an in-house coffee shop-slash-café. The wave of surprise that struck her quickly turned to jealousy that the journalism majors didn’t have one in _their_ building, then that turned to anxiety over whether or not she was even supposed to be in here. Realistically she knew there weren’t rules against her being in the building, but she suddenly felt kind of dirty about it. That feeling dissipated immediately when she saw a student walk past her with a bag of breakfast pastries and the insatiable glutton-monster that lived in her stomach reared its ugly head instead. Tapping her fingers against the strap of her backpack, she took a firm look around before sidling up to the counter.

“Hello!” she greeted brightly, although the blank-eyed stare of the cashier was less than welcoming. “Um, can I get two of the…chocolate croissants? And maybe one of the cinnamon. And a coffee. Uh, medium’s good.” The man behind the counter stared back at her for several long seconds – long enough for Kara to start panicking that maybe she was found out as a non-business student trying to get food from the business student-only coffee shop. What was the punishment for such a thing? Suspension? Expulsion? Disembowelment? 

“Cinnamon’s still in the oven, can you wait like two minutes?” 

_Oh, thank god_. 

“Oh, yeah, sure – no problem!” She smiled again and took a couple steps out of the way, her cover seemingly safe for the time being. Shifting her backpack around on her shoulder, she was content to wait in thoughtless silence - at least, until another student approached the counter. 

She was shorter than Kara, even with the sizable heels on her boots, and long, dark hair spilled out from under a loose beanie. She smelled nice - and Kara, who for all intents and purposes found herself to be reasonably clever and charming, was not immune to the sight of a pretty girl and she often found herself fighting heart palpitations any time one walked by in a cloud of sweet perfume: this was no different. Except now they were both stuck standing here three feet apart while she waited for her two large coffees and Kara for her croissants. It wasn’t a quick passing in a hallway or a holding the door open as you leave situation. This, Kara thought, was an opportunity. 

Kara was still reasonably new to dating other girls, though even in her limited experience she had already made quite a few big waves. Two her senior year of high school and half a dozen her first full year of college, the numbers may seem on the higher side for the time frame, but they were just dates. A couple months of casual dating here, a week there - none of it really counted to Kara. Well, it counted, but in a different way. She hadn’t had a girlfriend before, not really, and while she definitely wanted one, part of her - a large part - was happy with the informality of just dating around. Sure, it was starting to give her a bit of a reputation as a player (which she found hilarious), but it was easier to deal with that than the intimacy of a real relationship. Kara had a hard time being genuinely vulnerable with anyone other than her sister, Alex. Not even Winn, who had been her best friend since middle school, ever got the full, complete Kara - though he did get more than most. Kara didn’t feel the need to disclose every nitty, gritty detail of her life to many people; she didn’t think it was anyone else’s business. Alex had tried to explain once that part of being in a relationship meant that it _became_ someone else’s business and theirs became yours and you worked together to deal with it - and while Kara understood that, she also understood that Alex didn’t really seem like the type of person with the best relationship advice, if her own track record was anything to go by. But none of that really mattered right here and right now because Kara wasn’t looking for a relationship with some random girl in a campus coffee shop, she was just looking for an afternoon or two. Actually she was looking _at_ a pair of deep green eyes. 

“Hi.” 

Kara blinked and quickly turned away, not sure how long she’d been inadvertently staring at the girl. Clearly long enough to get caught, but at least the girl didn’t seem angry. Maybe annoyed, if her dry greeting and wry expression where anything to judge by. But she didn’t follow it up with any beratement, just went back to texting while she waited for her drinks to be finished. Apparently the simple ‘I caught you staring’ was enough for her. Kara, however, who had in fact not been staring (intentionally, anyway) and was actually carefully considering the situation, was not going to let an opportunity slip away without at least some attempt at pleasantry. 

“Hey. What’s up?” Smooth. 

The girl’s fingers stopped tapping away at her phone and Kara spied the corner of her lip pull up into a small smile, but she didn’t turn back to look at Kara nor did she offer up much of a conversational response. 

“Just getting coffee.” 

Kara nodded, though she was slightly disappointed in the response. Maybe the girl just didn’t want to talk. That was perfectly understandable and Kara didn’t want to overstep if that was the case, but she at least answered Kara’s question, cliché as it was. So Kara decided to just cover her bases and give a flexible remark, one that could feasibly end the conversation as it was or offer up a chance for the girl to reply should she be so inclined. 

“Sure, sure – these early classes can be killer without caffeine.” 

The dark-haired girl paused her texting again, but this time instead of a smile she offered up a slightly furrowed brow as she glanced sideways at Kara standing next to her. 

“It’s 9 am.” 

“Well, yeah, but…it’s before noon.”, Kara replied with a shrug. The girl had finally turned to look at her again and Kara couldn’t help but smile, though she hoped it came off more charming and less dopey than usually. 

“And anything before noon is early?”, the girl retorted, one eyebrow cocked as she surveyed Kara’s face. 

“It is when you don’t have caffeine.” 

The girl narrowed her eyes a bit at that and turned slightly away, but that small smile was definitely pulling at her lips again and Kara wondered briefly how it looked full on since it was already tugging at her heartstrings from half a side-profile. 

“Hmm…alright, touché.”, she finally said, and Kara counted it a win despite the girl then returning her attention to her cellphone. Kara chewed on her lip as she watched her for a moment longer before looking away, not wanting to get caught staring twice within a few minutes. She found herself staring instead at the poor café worker who was trying to wrangle the croissants in the oven and the three coffee drinks the two girls had ordered all by, what seemed to be, his sleep-deprived self. 

Finally Kara’s drink was offered forward and she stepped up to take it off the counter, hesitating as she did so. She half-turned towards the other girl, wondering if she should - and wanting to - say something else, but the café worker stopped her and handed over her ordered bag of croissants. She paid and thanked him, though he had already gone back to work. As Kara gathered the bag of pastries in one hand and her coffee in the other, she turned back to the other girl and paused. She wanted to say something else, keep their conversation going – even as light as it was – but a quick glance up at the clock on the wall behind revealed that she really needed to be going or she’d be late to class again. Still, she didn’t want to just bolt without saying something, and since she figured it’d be weird to introduce herself as she was leaving, she decided to play it safe and just offer a few parting words. 

“Well, I hope our paths _croissant_ again.” Kara’s bright smile quickly fell into a look of utter confusion at her own poor attempt at whatever-that-was, and before she could stop herself she mumbled an audible _what_ under her breath, spun on her heel, and quickly blustered out of the building – but not quite quickly enough to miss the soft laugh escaping from the dark-haired girl behind her, and the warm flutter that bubbled up in her chest at hearing it. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates won’t usually be this quick, but I already had half of this chapter written when I put up the first one and nothing to do at work today so I was able to finish it pretty fast. Still figuring out how to format dialogue so I hope it’s not too confusing. Also, stylistically, I realized while finishing this chapter that I’ve been picturing like light-grunge-Lena and jock-prep-Kara and I’m not sure how I ended up there but oh well, here we are.

It was two weeks before Kara saw the girl again. She had been back to the business college’s coffee shop a dozen times in those two weeks hoping to run into her again – and also because their croissants were excellent. She had even asked Winn if he knew any business majors, but no luck; he stuck mostly in engineering or the science hall. She briefly considered asking Alex but didn’t want to deal with all the questions that were going to come from that. Her sister was her confidante, sure, except maybe when it came to any sort of romantic entanglements, and that went her way for Alex, too. She wondered if it had more to do with the fact that they shared an apartment or the fact that they definitely made out with the same girl at a party once. Kara’s mortification upon discovering the latter quickly fell into amusement, while Alex hit the wall of embarrassment hard. While she had been out longer than Kara had, she struggled more with the confidence side of things. At first, Kara thought that was ridiculous because Alex was amazing, she was the best, and typically she _was_ the confident one – but having your heart broken will change a person. Alex didn’t like to talk about Maggie at all anymore and she was just barely starting to mention that, yes, she was trying to date again, and Kara wasn’t going to push her, especially since she herself wasn’t too keen on everyone knowing her business relationship-wise. But at least Alex was putting herself out there again, or so she said, and Kara wasn’t slouching either, although for the past couple weeks she had had a singular focus in that particular area.

That singular focus found her in the library one late afternoon. There was an opening at the school paper and she was working on a portfolio to submit for the position. James, the editor, whom she had gotten to know as a TA in one of her journalism courses, had all but assured her she was a shoo-in, but that didn’t mean Kara wasn’t determined to do a good job. She had gone to the library straight after her last class of the day and had been there for a few hours, getting her other homework finished and trying to get the portfolio together. Her stomach had been growling for thirty minutes, though she had been able to push it to the side as she formatted her articles. But eventually her willpower waned and she had to abandon her work to hunt down something to eat. There were a few snack machines in the lobby of the library, and that was were Kara was – with her hand shoved into the slot trying to dislodge the small pack of cookies that had fallen and gotten stuck on the bottom rung – when a voice behind her drew her attention.

“Well, well, well – I guess our paths have _croissant_ -ed again after all.”

“ _Fuck off._ ”, was the only response Kara could give and it came out in an embarrassed sigh as she finally freed her snack and stood up. Turning slowly around and preemptively shaking her head, she couldn’t help the smile that parted her lips upon seeing the girl again - and it only widened at seeing the smirk that was plastered across her face.

“No, it was good. A lot better than most lines I get anyway. Well, maybe not _better_. Less crass.”, the girl offered with a slight shrug, clutching the two books in her arms tighter against her chest as she gave Kara a once over. The blonde kept grinning, fingers toying with the pink plastic bag she held.

“Oh, well, glad to be service, then.”, Kara started, but no sooner had she finished the quip had the dark-haired girl started walking backwards towards the door, though her eyes never strayed from Kara’s - who absolutely took it as a dare.

“Y’know I didn’t get your name before.”, she said, quickly adjusting her backpack over both shoulders rather than just the one it usually hung on so she could follow, but the girl didn’t stop at the door. She pressed her back against it and stepped out onto the front steps, calling over her shoulder as she did so, “No, you didn’t.”

Kara almost huffed as she moved after her. “Oh, come on, really?”, she called down the steps. The girl stopped and spun around, and for the first time she smiled, full and genuine. _Definitely worth it_ , Kara thought in the split second of silence before the girl gave a retort: “What? It’s not fun if you don’t work for it.”

The blonde sighed. She wasn’t quite sure what kind of a game this was going to end up being but she was...intrigued. More than that, she kind of liked it.

“Work for it? All I have to offer are mediocre food-based puns - have some pity, please.”

That earned her a laugh, and Kara’s grin widened in some strange new type of pride because of it. The girl paused, peering down at her feet and slowly rocking her books back and forth, once, twice, and then started moving back up the steps.

“Well, I guess if _that_ ’s what you consider mediocre then maybe you do deserve pity.”, she said, cocking her head to the side as she stopped in front of Kara. Shifting the weight of her books to her left arm, she extended her right hand. “Lena.”

Kara’s smile softened for some reason she couldn’t possibly understand yet as she looked down at the girl - Lena - and reached out to shake her hand.

“Kara. It’s nice to meet you.”, she said, and Lena hummed in response, each slowly retracting their hands back to their own spaces, Lena’s wrapped around her textbooks and Kara’s around the strap of her backpack. A heavy pause fell between them for several seconds before Lena turned her head again and Kara, suddenly fearing she was about to vanish into the night for the second time in two weeks, found herself bouncing on the balls of her feet, anxious to keep their time together from ending abruptly.

“Are you working on something big or just studying or…do you want to talk for a bit?”

“Talk?” Lena’s eyes - god, those eyes - narrowed slightly, almost questioning.

“Yeah, talk. Exchanging thoughts and opinions through words. It’s pretty cool.” Kara hesitated after the words left her mouth, worrying it came across snarkier than she meant for it to, but Lena’s closed-lipped smile was replaced quickly by a smirk as she turned her head to look off into the distance for a second - leaving Kara to wonder briefly if she liked that smirk better the smile.

“Okay, Kara, we can talk.”

A few minutes later they were back inside the library, sat across from each other at one of the first-floor tables, Kara’s backpack and Lena’s books taking up space between them. Kara had finally gotten around to opening her pack of cookies and offered Lena one, but she declined. A few seconds later their ‘talk’ turned out to be more ‘listen to Kara chew’. Lena didn’t seem to mind terribly - she hadn’t left yet, which Kara took as a good sign - but she wasn’t prompting much conversation either. Then again, technically it was Kara’s idea, so maybe that meant she should start the talking.

Folding the half-eaten bag of cookies closed and placing it between them, in case Lena changed her mind about wanting one, Kara cleared her throat and tapped her fingers on the tabletop.

“ _Sooo_ …you’re a business major—“

“I’m not a business major.”

Kara blinked. “Oh. You were in the business college, I just thought—“

“Are you a business major?”

“No.”

“Well, then.”

Kara almost huffed again and shook her head softly.

“Yeah, all right, but you were in there, ordering coffees, like you belonged there.”

“It’s a coffee shop, Kara. Just because it’s _in_ the business college doesn’t mean they want you to pay with a paper on consumer demand theory – I think they really prefer cash.”

“Ok, ok, fine…it’s just you…you have that look, I don’t know.”

It was Lena’s turn to huff then. “That look?”

Kara bit her lip. This was definitely not the plan. She started racking her brain for how she could explain what she meant when Lena sighed and said, “I’m a business _minor_.” Kara blinked again. Well, that was close enough, she thought, how much of a difference was there really? But once again before she could find the words, Lena turned the conversation back on her.

“What are _you_ studying?”

“Journalism. You?”

“Biochem.”

“Wow.”

“And biophys.”

“Double-majoring? _And_ minoring? And you still find time to order coffees and mock girls for their less-than-mediocre bread-puns?”

“Clearly.”, Lena retorted, raising an eyebrow and making a face. She softened quickly though and let her gaze drop down to the tabletop. “It’s…kind of a long story.”, she offered as some means of an explanation before adding much quieter, “And I wasn’t mocking you.”

Kara nodded. For whatever reason it seemed like her studies where kind of a sensitive subject, and while Kara certainly didn’t want to push or overstep, she did want Lena to know that it was okay.

“I like long stories.”, said the blonde with a shrug, fingers reaching out to toy with the plastic snack bag.

Lena stayed quiet, chewing on her lip and avoiding eye contact for a long moment. “I don’t.”, she finally said, looking back at Kara. “Not this one, anyway.”

She looked almost sad and something inside of Kara didn’t like that at all. She tried her best to swallow it down with an empathetic nod. “That’s fair.”

Another pause crept up on them, but Kara was quick to break it with a sigh. Leaning forward on her elbows, she attempted to restart the conversation and steer it in what was, hopefully, a more pleasant direction.

“So, what else do you like to do? I mean, in the ten to twelve minutes of free time you probably have every day.”

Lena smiled softly and shook her head. “You’re not big on silence, are you?” While true, Kara was caught off-guard by the observation and started sputtering for a response.

It was Lena’s turn to sigh and she shook her head again, this time seemingly at herself. “Sorry, I’m just…not really used to—“

“Talking about yourself?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“That’s okay, we can talk about something else. Like us.”

“Oh, _us_?”

“Yep. Destined to be best friends, I can tell.”

A laugh bubbled up in Lena’s chest then and Kara found herself grinning again, proud of gaining that result. It was weird, really, just how excited she was to hear that sound and see the smile that followed it.

“Ah, well, that’s the thing.”, Lena said, pointing a finger at Kara. “ _Unfortunately_ , due to my super busy schedule I really only have time to maintain one friendship at a time, and I’m afraid that position’s already taken.”

“Oh, wow, talk about a bummer.”

“Mhm. Very competitive field, it’s a highly sought after position.”

“Yeah, I bet.”

“So I guess if you really want to see me again you’ll have to ask me on a date.”

Kara froze, her fingers stilled from beating out whatever quiet tattoo they were drumming on the tabletop. Her eyes held Lena’s for a long while, trying to decipher whether or not this was a trick or a test or a genuine offer. Lena wasn’t giving much away; she’d hardly reacted to her own statement other than to pointedly catch Kara’s gaze. The blonde held her bottom lip between her teeth and cocked her head to the side as she thought, a smile spreading across her features yet again as she slowly came to her conclusion.

“Would you like to go on a date with me?”

“No.”

Kara’s shoulders fell and she heaved a breathy laugh. “Come on.” She immediately assumed she misunderstood whatever hint Lena may have given her previously, but the brunette didn’t look the least bit displeased. In fact, she was smiling, and it made Kara’s brow furrow slightly in confusion. At least she didn’t have to wait long for an explanation:

“I told you, it’s not fun if you don’t work for it - and you already used your pun-pity.”

A sigh of both relief and disbelief fell past Kara’s lips and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes. This girl was going to kill her, and the shitty part about that was that she was pretty sure it’d be worth it.

Lena glanced at her watch and starting gathering her things together, still smiling and every so often looking over at the incredulous but intrigued look plastered across Kara’s face. As she finished and stood up from the table, she leaned over and patted Kara’s forearm.

“Come on, Kara. Put those big strong arms to use and sweep me off my feet.”

Kara looked up into her eyes again and was suddenly overcome with the very strong urge to do exactly that. This was bad, she thought. Good, but...very bad.

Lena, as if completely unaware of Kara’s sudden internal plight, just grinned and pushed herself away from the table. She was three steps away before she stopped and threw a wink over her shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

And with that Kara was left alone there, confused about many things and absolutely certain of one: whatever this game was, it was going to be great.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 turned into chapters 3 & 4 because it got giant, so I decided to split it in two.
> 
> This chapter has a lot of background exposition at the start that I just wanted to establish but now I'm not super sure it'll come up again, but oh well.
> 
> Next chapter, more flirting, because that's what we're all here for (at least that's what I'm all here for).

Kara had to do a little bit of light stalking to even find her girl again, since apparently Lena’s idea of working for it meant withholding as much information as possible like a last name or phone number. But now that she knew Lena’s real major, she turned back to Winn for help. While he was studying engineering, a lot of his classes were in the science college and Kara hoped he had at least seen Lena around – and he most definitely had.

“You know who she is right?” he had mumbled through a mouthful of burrito over lunch one afternoon.

Kara made a face in response. “That is _literally_ what I’m asking you.”

Winn rolled his eyes and swallowed hard before leaning forward across the table, lowering his voice and raising his eyebrows. “She’s a _Luthor_.” he said quietly, giving Kara a look and a nod before leaning back in his chair and taking another bite. Kara made a barely audible ‘oh’ sound and mirrored his nod, before leaning forward and shaking her head.

“Wh–I don’t–what does that mean?”

Winn groaned and rolled his eyes again. “Tax evasion, stock manipulation, bribery of the press and public officials, pretty much any white collar crime you can think of, any of that sound familiar?”

“Wha– _those_ Luth–really?”

The sudden realization washed over Kara and her shoulders fell as she slouched against the back of her chair. Winn wasn’t entirely correct when he said white collar crime; a lot of what the Luthor family was accused of was a lot worse than that – but the key word in any of it was _accused_. While she was acutely aware of much of it thanks to her interest in reporting and journalism, even Kara wasn’t sure if she could guess exactly how many lawsuits had been brought against the company. What she was sure about was how many of them stuck: zero. There were countless settlements and probably just as many cases where whatever charges were just _magically_ dropped. The most recent big scandal was maybe two years ago, involving a 36-page affidavit that accused them of manipulating land titles in Bolivia and Paraguay for dumping grounds for toxic waste and byproducts. Kara didn’t know the outcome since it, like most things the Luthors were involved in, disappeared into the shadows about six months after the news first broke. The fact that they were even still in business was really a testament to both their money and their PR department, which Kara guessed could also be attributed to their money.

“Yep, those are the ones. I mean I didn’t even know they had a daughter but–,” Winn continued in between bites. “–I heard the only reason she even transferred here was because she was getting harassed about her brother.”

_Oh, right, that._ It was hard to even think of the Luthors without thinking of Lex. He wasn’t that much older than Kara but he was already becoming the face of the family, certainly the face of the company. It made some sense, she guessed. He was young, reasonably attractive, and definitely charismatic - the perfect triple threat if you were looking for someone to rebrand your business around. Easily more likeable than his parents, he had been winning fans since his first press release promising a new leaf for the Luthor name now that he was out of school and fully involved in the company. A lot of people seemed to be fully supportive of him, but to a lot of others - including Kara - he wasn’t anything more than a poster boy for rich, white douchebags. She had read press releases and watched interviews, and she never once felt like he came across as sincere. Something about him just unnerved her, though it was hard to explain what. It was weird, and he certainly didn’t seem to be anything like Lena.

Kara sat in silence for a long few moments before leaning forward on her elbows and sighing in frustration. “That’s so weird. I mean, she’s so nice—”. She caught herself and thought about it before a second before huffing and correcting, “Actually, no, she’s frustrating as hell.”

“But you like it.” Winn replied, nodding knowingly.

“Yeah.”

“Because you have a problem.”

“…...…yeah.”

Winn took a deep breath and wiped his hands and mouth before leaning forward, mirroring Kara’s positioning. “How can I help?”

Luckily for Winn, his job was pretty much done now that Kara had a last name and the vaguest idea of a class schedule to work with. The next day, after her morning class was over, she set up shop on a bench outside the main entrance of the science building and waited. About twenty minutes later, just when she was starting to really overthink the entire situation, she spotted Lena coming out of the building. The beanie was back and she was wearing a denim jacket with a plaid shirt tied around her waist. Kara thought that she certainly didn’t look like a Luthor as her mind started wandering back to her conversation with Winn, but pretty much any and all comprehendible thought faded when Lena noticed her sitting on the bench and smiled. She quickly rerouted her path to head towards Kara and shifted her books in her arm, flipping through the top one, as she did so.

“Took you long enough. I’ve been carrying this around for four days.” She said as she approached the bench, removing an orange sticky note from in between the pages of her book and extending it to Kara.

“I was gonna bring you lunch but since I know literally nothing about you—”, Kara had started quipping just as Lena finished and hadn’t even really processed what she said. She mindlessly reached out to take whatever was being offered, but hesitated before looking at it as she watched Lena already start to walk away. Kara stumbled over a few confused words before glancing down at the note and seeing the string of numbers written there.

“Are you coming?”

She blinked at the note then up at Lena, who had stopped several feet away and called back towards her. She looked at the note again, then at the girl, then shook her head. “What?”

Lena smiled again and gestured down the sidewalk where she was headed. “Lunch,” she said simply, “Come on. Maybe you’ll learn something.”

It still took Kara’s confusion a moment longer to dissipate, but when it finally did she couldn’t bite back the dopey grin that started spreading across her face. Swinging her backpack up and around one shoulder, she quickly caught up to Lena – sliding the sticky note carefully into the pocket of her jeans as she did so.

As it would turn out, Kara did in fact learn something at that lunch, and at the one a few days later, and the one after that. Over the next few weeks the pair fell into a deceptively easy rhythm: quick lunches or walks across the quad between classes, coffee stops on particularly cold mornings, texting or online Scrabble in the moments in-between. They weren’t afforded many opportunities to see each other in the afternoons or evenings, since they both did have busy schedules: Lena’s was primarily taken up with her schoolwork, and Kara’s was soon full of reporting for the school paper on top of intramural soccer and spending time with Alex.

While she and Lena weren’t technically together, and they had never done anything particularly romantic, lately Kara had found herself in an odd position. She was never more excited than when she and Lena were spending time together, she lit up like a light bulb every time Lena texted, and every time they said goodbye she felt sad. It was _like_ they were together, and that both thrilled and terrified Kara. This whole thing started because Kara thought maybe they could have a little bit of fun for a bit, not because she wanted any sort of real relationship. Lena was the one who turned it into a game and it definitely was fun – maybe not exactly the kind of fun Kara had intended, but either way the goal was achieved. But the longer the whole thing went on, the more Kara wanted from it. And sometimes she’d catch Lena looking at her and think maybe she wanted that, too. After spending several nights overthinking and thinking it over, Kara decided she’d look for an opportunity to put that particular hypothesis to the test.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 turned into chapters 3 & 4 because it got giant, so I decided to split it in two.
> 
> Next chapter, it's Kara's turn to be wooed. This ain't no one-sided affair here.

Homecoming week soon arrived, as did the multitude of events that came with it: the parade, the talent show, the cardboard boat race, and, of course, the bonfire – and that’s not to say anything of the actual football game itself. Kara found herself even busier than before with the paper. Even if she wasn’t reporting an event, she was helping James with organizing and editing and making sure everything turned out perfect. By the time Friday rolled around she was in desperate need of a break, and thankfully the bonfire provided one.

She and Alex had decided to just walk from their apartment on the edge of campus across to the parking lot where the bonfire would be. They’d made plans to meet up with Winn and James, and likely James’ girlfriend, Lucy – but Kara had been texting Lena all afternoon, hoping to at least get a few minutes of face time with her as well.

Kara wasn’t really sure what the appeal was of lighting things on fire for no reason, but it seemed to be a pretty popular event. It took a while to track Winn down but they found James almost immediately, just had to follow the flashing camera. Once the gang was all there they settled into their usual rhythm very quickly and in the blink of an eye almost an hour had passed. The party, if you could call it that, was in full swing by then, so James excused himself to get some pictures of the event for the paper, and Lucy was quick to follow him. Winn eventually got hungry and decided to go hunt down some grub at one of the food trucks, and Alex went in search of drinks, leaving Kara alone for the first time in the evening.

Now that she wouldn’t have to deal with any of the questions, Kara pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Lena. Biting her lip in anticipation of the response, as she often did when waiting on Lena to text back, she bounced lightly on the balls of her feet and looked around, hoping to catch sight of Lena somewhere in the crowd.

“Hey.”

Spinning around at the sudden voice, Kara came face to face with the very object of her thoughts.

“Hey!”, she responded with a grin, perhaps a bit too excitedly judging by Lena’s gentle laugh. “Glad you found me.”

Lena smiled softly up at her and shrugged. “Just looking for the prettiest girl here.”

Despite a significant portion of their entire relationship being based solely around feeding each other lines, a warm blush began to prick at the tops of Kara’s ears when an unfamiliar voice popped in rather nonchalantly: “None taken.”

Blinking, Kara suddenly realized that Lena hadn’t walked up alone. There was a taller girl standing just behind her, fists shoved into the pockets of a brown leather jacket and a bemused look on her face. Lena, who had turned to glance at her when she spoke, leaned closer and gently elbowed her in the arm.

“This is Sam,” Lena said, turning back to Kara and throwing her thumb in the direction of the taller girl, who nodded and said a simple, “Hey.”

Kara nodded in return and pointed knowingly. “ _The friend_.”

Sam laughed in affirmation and replied, “That’d be me. But I could probably say the same thing about you.”

Lena cocked her head and shot another look at Sam, who shrugged it off. Kara raised an eyebrow, but before she could get out a question she felt a tap against the back of her elbow and turned to see that Alex had returned bearing ciders. She handed a cup to Kara and opened her mouth to say something but stopped upon realizing her sister wasn’t alone. She blinked at the other girls, then at Kara, then turned back to the girls and said, “Oh…hey.”

Sam was the first to respond, though the greetings went around full circle and she was also the _last_ to respond after Alex awkwardly repeated herself, after which Kara tried to regain control by clearing her throat and making actual introductions.

“Alex, this is my–uh…,” she started but stumbled quickly, “This is Lena, and Sam. This is my sister, Alex.”

Further introductory acknowledgements were made, after which the group fell back into an awkward silence, much to Kara’s dismay. She went back and forth between staring at Lena and staring at Alex, who was going back and forth between staring at Lena and Sam, while Lena was staring solely at Kara and Sam was staring squarely into the middle-distance wondering what exactly Lena had gotten her into.

Deciding her best bet was to just take a firmer approach and then deal with Alex later, Kara took a half-step into the middle of the group and held her cup of cider out towards Lena while simultaneously saying, “Y’wanna take a walk?”

Lena was already nodding and reaching to take the drink before Kara could even finish. “Yeah. Please.” she replied, shifting the cup into her right hand and sliding her left around Kara’s elbow, leading her away. Kara didn’t put up a fight, allowing herself to be directed back towards the center of campus, pausing only to pull Alex’s drink out of her hand to replace the one given to Lena. If Alex objected – and Kara was sure that she had – she did so quietly, and the last thing that Kara heard before the din of the crowd drowned them out was Sam saying, “ _So—_ ”.

As the night wore on the pair paced circles around the empty campus quad, Lena’s arm tucked loosely into the crook of Kara’s elbow. Every once in a while, the sleeve of her sweater would rise up past her wrist and Lena’s fingers would brush against the skin there, leaving a trail of warmth across the flesh. Kara was almost annoyed at how distracting such a tiny gesture could be, and at how little Lena seemed to react. Then again it seemed like Lena enjoyed frustrating her, and if Kara was being honest she really did kind of like it – which just made her more frustrated at falling for it every time.

When they got tired of walking they sat together on one of the benches in the quad, and when they ran out of things to just talk about Kara suggested they play a game instead: two truths and a lie. Lena laughed at the idea but agreed and they ended up learning even more about one another, from the impressive (Lena got a perfect score on the math portion of the SAT) to the subjectively embarrassing (Kara can fit 21 marshmallows in her mouth in once). But regardless of which end of the spectrum it fell on, every single new thing she learned about Lena made Kara’s heart soar.

Eventually Lena’s phone buzzed with a text from Sam, wondering if she was ready to go. Kara had lost track of time, but since Alex hadn’t called in concern yet she hadn’t been too worried – but taking a glance at the face of Lena’s phone showed it to be well after midnight, a good couple hours after they had left Alex and Sam behind.

Lena quickly responded to the text and told Kara she guessed the night was over then, but she didn’t make a move to stand up from the bench. Kara rolled her head from side to side and tapped her thumb against her own knee. “One more, okay? Then you can go.”

Lena rolled her eyes but smiled as she agreed. Kara grinned and shifted around on the bench until she was seated sideways, completely facing the other girl.

“Okay. So…I love animated movies.”

Lena narrowed her eyes. She knew that one already.

“I’m adopted.”

She cocked an eyebrow. She knew that one, too.

“And I definitely, absolutely, do _not_ want to kiss you right now.”

Kara could almost see the flash of realization in Lena’s eyes, but she gave away nothing that eased the heavy weight in Kara’s stomach. Sure, she’d been the one to take the leap, but that didn’t mean she didn’t think it was a risk. And just when Kara thought it may not have been worth the reward, one of those brilliant smiles crossed Lena’s face and she lent slowly forward. The weight in Kara’s stomach soared up into her chest as she returned the grin and leaned forward too, eyes closed in anticipation.

She felt Lena’s sweet breath on her lips but no contact ever came, and just as confusion was about to set in she heard Lena whisper quietly, “Did you really think that would work?”

Without moving nearer or farther away and without opening her eyes, Kara’s lips parted in another bright grin. “I mean, yeah, kind of,” she whispered back.

There was a small pause then she felt Lena smile.

“Good night, Kara.”

And then she felt Lena slide off the bench.

Something about the moment made Kara want to stay in it a bit longer, and when she finally opened her eyes Lena was already several feet away as she made her way back towards the bonfire in the distance.

Kara watched her quietly for several seconds before shouting after her, “Hey!”

When Lena stopped and turned, her own grin still not yet faded, Kara called out, “There’s a Halloween party next week. Haunted house and everything. You wanna go with me?”

Even with the distance between them she heard Lena laugh. “Yeah.”

“Okay, cool.”

“…good night, Kara.”

“…good night.”

And with that Kara watched her turn again and walk away. She was out of sight before Kara realized she was still smiling. While that wasn’t exactly the reaction she had been hoping for, it was somehow better, she thought. She didn’t think she’d ever been this happy about _not_ getting a kiss, but for whatever reason she was.

She really did have a problem, didn’t she?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longish chapter. A bit more Alex/Sam in this one too.
> 
> While I did give them all halloween costumes in my head, I decided to leave it intentionally vague so you could imagine them dressed as whatever floats your particular boat.
> 
> I’ve still got several ideas as well as a vague outline of where this is going and where it’ll end up (still have no idea how long), but if you have any little prompts of moments or events or things you definitely want to see, feel free to message me on tumblr (captain-morrigan) and I may try to work a few in here and there! Also don’t follow me on tumblr if you’re expecting a ton of supercorp stuff, I never really post anything and just reblog nonsense about things I like, but if you want to have a convo or something then by all means hit me up.

The next few days couldn’t go by quickly enough for Kara. Now that she had an actual date – or at least what she was considering a date, anyway – she could hardly keep her excitement in check, much to Alex’s annoyance. She was glad that Kara was happy, but the whole situation still had her protective-older-sister-senses tingling, especially since she didn’t know anything about this girl her sister was apparently obsessed with. But Kara was a big girl and Alex guessed she could handle herself. And if it turned out she couldn’t, then Alex could certainly kick some ass to make up for it.

By the time Thursday night finally rolled around, Alex was the thankful one – grateful that her sister hadn’t managed to combust and had calmed down enough to actually put her costume on. The university’s Greek Life organization was sponsoring the party so a whole section of campus had been all spooked up for the occasion, and was once again well within walking distance from the Danvers’ apartment so they bundled up over their costumes and set off.

Crowds of people were already milling about by the time they arrived, drinking, eating, dancing, and playing carnival-style games. Kara and Alex grabbed their own drinks pretty quickly, and Kara a caramel apple, before searching out their friends. It took a while to find anyone in the crowd, but Winn appeared first, clutching his own drink and a cupcake in his hands. They talked about the party and about what they all had been up to over the past couple days before Winn decided it was time to drag the girls to the haunted house. Kara protested that she was supposed to meet Lena, but between Alex and Winn she lost that particular fight and allowed herself to be pulled into the haunted house.

It was a surprisingly open experience. You were meant to enter through the garage and exit into the backyard, but the whole house was up for exploring in the meantime with very little forced direction. While Kara didn’t consider herself a coward by any stretch of the imagination, that didn’t mean she necessarily enjoyed being scared. She loved Halloween for the costumes and the candy, less so for the spooks. Winn loved every bit of all of it, as he did with most things, and Alex cranked her protective instincts up to an eleven as a defense mechanism to every sight and sound, fists up from the get-go, ready to throw down out of pure reflex at the first jump scare.

The actors did a good job of separating the three of them pretty quickly, and soon Kara found herself standing on the upstairs landing by herself. She hesitated there for a few long moments before moving forward to peek into one of the rooms, stage-whispering Alex’s name as she did so. A response came quickly and suddenly, though it was hardly the one she was hoping for, when a pair of hands poked into the backs of her hips. She yelped and jumped forward, twisting around to face her assailant. It took about four seconds for a wave of relief to wash over her when she realized it was actually exactly who she was hoping for.

“Hey there, jumpy.” Lena laughed, withdrawing her hands back to her own sides. Kara exhaled heavily and doubled over.

“ _Jesus Christ_ , Lena…”

“I didn’t really mean to scare you that bad.”

“I—no, it’s fine, just…god. I wasn’t expecting it.”

“That’s what made it scary.”

“W—ye—I mean, yeah.” Kara straightened up and sighed again, finally looking at Lena again, who was still smiling despite her assurance scaring Kara wasn’t her intent. Kara almost mentioned her smugness, but settled for a look and a shake of her head instead. “Sorry. I was looking for you earlier, but then I got dragged in here and…”

“It’s okay. I was actually just leaving to go look for you – and I guess I found you.”

Kara gave a breathy laugh and instinctively took a step forward, which Lena instinctively matched and they were suddenly standing pretty close together. Kara swallowed hard and opened her mouth to say something, but hesitated when she saw the studious-look on Lena’s face.

“Wha—what?”

“I’ve never seen you without your glasses before.”

“Oh! Oh, yeah, hah. They didn’t really go with the costume, so.”

Lena hummed thoughtfully and a soft smile pulled at her lips. “You look nice.”

A blush began to prick at the tips of Kara’s ears and across the bridge of her nose, as it almost always seemed to do when Lena complimented her. Sure, they were always open and free and flirty with one another pretty much constantly, but there were still moments when the veil lifted and sincerity poked through. Those were the moments Kara liked the most, mainly because of how cute Lena’s genuine, scrunched up smile was.

“So do you.” Kara offered back quietly, and Lena smiled a bit wider. They stayed there, lingering in the moment, for a while longer, before Lena finally stepped back and extended a hand towards the blonde.

“We should get out of here. Do you wanna hold my hand in case you get scared again?”

Kara blushed again, for a different reason this time, and rolled her eyes emphatically.

“I wasn’t really _scared_ …” She protested, but laced her fingers through Lena’s nonetheless and the two of them explored the remainder of the haunted house hand-in-hand.

When they finally exited and made their way back around to the street, Kara caught sight of Winn fussing over someone sitting on a bench and pulled Lena in his direction. As they approached, they both quickly recognized the person on the bench as Sam, and as soon as Kara saw Alex standing sheepishly nearby she knew immediately what had happened. Lena, however, did not.

“What happened to you?” She asked, sliding her hand out of Kara’s and moving closer to Sam, who simply pulled the wet rag away from her eye and pointed at Alex. “She punched me in the face.”

They all turned to look at Alex, who immediately leapt to her own defense. “I’m _sorry_! It was a reflex, I swear!”

Lena looked almost offended as she turned towards Kara as if asking for an explanation. Kara shrugged. “It’s true. When we were kids, our neighbor used to go all out on Halloween, get dressed up and sit on the porch, then chase you down the driveway when you went to get candy. At least he _did_ , until Alex broke his nose—“

“ _Fractured_ , it was fractured, he was totally fine!”

Lena rolled her eyes and asked Sam if she was okay. Sam assured her, and everyone else, that she was fine, although it did little to assuage Alex’s embarrassment. Kara stepped over and gave her a comforting hug while Winn took the opportunity to introduce himself and Lena double-checked that Sam was okay.

“I’m sorry.” Alex whispered, and Kara couldn’t help but grin back.

“It’s okay. She seems fine.”

“…did I ruin your date?”

“No. I mean, _no_ —it’s not a da—it’s not a _date_ , it’s more like—it’s just—I mean we—“

“Hey, we’re gonna go play some of the games!” Winn’s sudden declaration straightened Kara out of her stumbling and when she looked over she saw him, Lena, and Sam all standing and staring at her and Alex expectantly. The sisters looked at each other: Alex seemed uncertain, but Kara grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her over towards the others. The whole group set out together, but not before Lena’s fingers found Kara’s once again.

The rest of the evening was spent playing carnival games and eating delicious sugary foods and drinking warm spiced ciders. Kara tried fruitlessly to win Lena a stupid-looking stuffed pumpkin-person. Sam made Alex laugh and snapped her out of her ashamed stupor with a joke about the dean of students. Lena somehow managed to win Kara _and_ Winn a stupid-looking stuffed pumpkin-person. All in all, it was a good night. With the exception of Sam, who absolutely took every opportunity to rub her schedule in everyone’s face, they all did still have classes tomorrow, so the night ended much sooner than Kara had hoped it would. Of course any trace of that disappointment burned away when Lena kissed her cheek goodnight.

The next day Kara only had two classes and, for the first time in a while, no extracurricular commitments, so she returned to her and Alex’s apartment to burrow into the couch and catch up on her Netflix binging. Alex watched an episode with her before she had to go to her final class, and when she returned she found Kara in the exact same position. “Y’know I didn’t ask earlier but exactly how long have you been like that?”

“64 years.”

“Okay, well, just roll over every now and then so you don’t get bed sores.”

“Mkay.”

Alex sighed and disappeared into her bedroom, closing the door behind her, through which Kara shouted a moment later: “Wanna watch something with me?”

“Uh, no thanks, I’ve got…stuff.”

“ _Stuff_? You’ve got _stuff_?”

Alex didn’t deign to respond and Kara was too relaxed to really care, so the television picked up the conversation from there. It was completely forgotten by the time the episode came to an end about half an hour later, also when a perfectly timed knock sounded at the door. Kara excitedly mumbled something about pizza and leapt up from the couch, grabbing the wad of cash she’d previously counted out from the kitchen counter as she rushed for the door. Whipping it open with a grin that quickly faded, she was surprised to see that it was not in fact a pizza delivery person but rather Sam, who wasn’t looking _too_ worse for wear.

“Hel—oh, um, hey.”

“Hey.”

“…Lena isn’t…here…”

“Yeah, I know—“

Her explanation was interrupted by the sound of Alex’s bedroom door being thrown open. Kara turned instinctively at the sound and watched as her sister, jacket in hand, hurried through the kitchen and in between her and the front door.

“ _Don—no—just sh—zzzzp!_ ” She made a face and pointed a stern finger at Kara’s chest before she quickly turned out into the hallway and pulled the door shut behind her before Kara could even think to react.

She’s not sure how long she stood awkwardly by the door before jumping back over to the couch and quickly finding her phone to text Lena.

Kara: i think ur friend took my sister on a date tonight  
Lena: lol ya i kinda figured

Kara chuffed and settled back into her spot on the couch as another ping sounded from her phone.

Lena: so who’s taking u out tonight?  
Kara: netflix  
Lena: kinky

She rolled her eyes and pulled a pillow onto her lap as she reached for the remote, but hesitated just before reaching it. Chewing on her lip, she thought over her options for the evening before finally coming to a decision and turning her attention back to her phone.

Kara: wanna come over?  
Lena: and chill?

Oh. Yeah, she could see how that could be construed that way. And it wasn’t like she _opposed_ , but it definitely wasn’t what she meant, and she quickly tried to articulate just that in a response.

Kara: no  
Kara: i didn’t mean it like that  
Lena: it was a joke  
Kara: yea

A few beats of silence after that was enough to make Kara nervous. She wondered if she had somehow ruined her own invitation. There had to be some way to pull this back from the brink.

Kara: i ordered pizza  
Lena: in that case i'm sold

Kara groaned. She could read the sarcasm in the text and it did little to assuage her fears. Sure, they’d been hanging out for a while now, but maybe inviting her over – even without any chilling intentions – was too soon. How much did they really know about each? Kara thought it was a lot, even though Lena didn’t really like talking about herself. Maybe it wasn’t, maybe she’d misconstrued this whole situation, maybe Lena wasn’t even into her, maybe she was just friendly—

A short series of pings thankfully interruption her agony, and as she read through the four short texts her furrowed brow gave way to a wider and wider grin.

Lena: txt me the apt #  
Lena: i'll bring drinks  
Lena: 30 min  
Lena: or less

Kara gave a mental fist pump, and maybe a little physical one, as she typed out her address. She snuggled back into the cushions and sighed deeply, like she had momentarily forgotten to exhale in her brief moment of panic – a moment of panic that quickly returned when she realized she was wearing cartoon pajama pants and had been doing nothing but laying on the couch for six hours. Tossing the pillow from her lap she jumped up and began to rush around the living room, folding and putting away blankets and pillows, throwing out drink cans, even lighting a candle to try and get rid of the popcorn smell, anything she could think of to make it look like she hadn’t been wallowing all afternoon, including putting on clean jeans and a t-shirt that wasn’t two sizes too big.

She wasn’t sure why she was suddenly so nervous, especially given that she had been the one to ask Lena to come over in the first place, but she was doing all she could to swallow down the butterflies as she tidied up the apartment. She even briefly considering mopping, but ultimately decided that was stupid, she wouldn’t have the time. She also decided that she really needed to calm the fuck down, this was getting ridiculous.

And she would’ve been embarrassed about the whole thing if those butterflies in her stomach hadn’t burst into fireworks in her chest the second she heard a knock at the door.


End file.
